2 years for ex-Secretary of State worker who took bribes

September 05, 2013|By Jason Meisner | Tribune reporter

(Tribune illustration)

A former employee of the Illinois secretary of state's office was sentenced to two years in federal prison Thursday for pocketing thousands of dollars in bribes in return for passing unqualified drivers on road tests.

Christopher Wardlaw, 38, pleaded guilty to extortion earlier this year. He was one of four former secretary of state employees charged in a probe of a Chinatown ring that allegedly sold Social Security numbers and other fraudulent documents to immigrants, mostly Chinese nationals.

Prosecutors said the organizers of the Chinatown ring took applicants to the secretary of state's Chicago South licensing facility, 9901 S. King Drive, where Wardlaw worked from 2005 to 2007. Wardlaw and others charged in the scheme then gave passing grades to the drivers for road tests they either failed or never took, the charges alleged.

Authorities said Wardlaw shared in about $40,000 in bribes, paid mostly $100 at a time. The secretary of state's office eventually revoked more than 2,800 driver's licenses issued to motorists who fraudulently used Social Security numbers believed to be obtained from the Chinatown ring.

The charges against Wardlaw came years after the massive Operation Safe Roads investigation — also involving licenses for bribes — that engulfed the secretary of state's office and resulted in the imprisonment of former Gov. George Ryan.

With the Chinatown scheme, prosecutors said potentially dangerous drivers were put on the road and only a significant prison term would send a message to government workers that corruption has consequences.

"There is a long history of corruption in government employment in this city and state," Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Madden said. "That's something that the public pays attention to."